India is considering an American anti-missile 'umbrella' to protect the Delhi region from enemy rockets, drones and aircraft.

Seeking to provide protection to dignitaries, including the President and Prime Minister, India is looking into the system, as part of the Delhi Area Defence project.

'The National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) is being considered for the Delhi Area Defence project to provide aerial protection to the capital from airborne threats,' government sources told Mail Today.

The capital may get US anti-missile umbrella

The programme is being undertaken as the threat from incoming enemy missiles, drones and aircraft is perceived to be on the rise, because of their increasing use by organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

US defence officials have given presentations to the Air Force and other concerned agencies, and the proposal is now being considered by the government.

The same anti-missile system is used by the Americans to guard their national capital region in Washington DC and has been in deployment there since 2005.

Officials are considering installing the NASAMS air defence system to protect the Delhi region from enemy rockets, drones and aircraft

The Indian Air Force has been using missile systems originating from Russia to help protect the national capital, as well as important assets.

The Americans claim the NASAMS as being a state-of-the-art air defence system that can maximise the ability of the users to quickly identify, engage and destroy enemy aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles or emerging cruise missile threats.

'It is owned by seven countries and has been integrated into the US national capital region's air defence system since 2005.

'In addition to the US, it is in service in Norway, Finland, Spain and the Netherlands,' said the firm which manufactures the missile system for the US government.

Indian army soldiers take up position on the perimeter of an airforce base in Pathankot on January 3, 2016, during an operation to 'sanitise' the base following an attack by gunmen

Government sources said this programme would be running simultaneously with the indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence shield project, under which protection would be provided to key cities such as Delhi and Mumbai from incoming ballistic missiles.

Under the DRDO project, the plan is to take down long range ballistic missiles coming in from up to 2,000 km, at heights of 30 to 120 kilometres.

In the past few years, India has been taking significant steps to improve its air defence capabilities as a number of new mechanisms to take on hostile aerial action have been introduced and many more new systems will be added in the near future.

India recently started inducting the long-delayed `20,000 crore SPYDER missile systems into the Air Force and some of the systems have already been deployed on the western frontier to thwart any misadventure from the Pakistan side.

India has also signed a deal worth `17,000-crore for medium-range-surface-to-air-missile (MRSAM) system with Israel to equip the Army Air Defence Corps to take out enemy planes and drones at ranges of up to 70 kilometres in the air.

The DRDO has also started a programme to develop a quick-reaction surface-to-air missile system to enable the armed forces to bolster air defence capabilities in both the western and eastern sectors.

Indian agencies are considering the NASAMS at a time when defence ties between India and the US are on a high and New Delhi has contracted for military hardware worth over `75,000 crore in the last one decade.

The Indian Air Force has acquired various systems from the US including the C-17 Globemaster heavylift aircraft, C-130J Super Hercules Special Operations planes, Apache attack choppers and the Chinook heavy-lift helicopters in the last seven to eight years.

The Navy has also acquired 12 P-8 anti-submarine warfare and surveillance aircraft from the US for looking after its vast maritime zone and replace its Russian Tupolev spy planes.